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In the News: Cast Iron House Got a $45 Million Loan
••• Good news: Cast Iron House at 67 Franklin (361 Broadway), which has been stalled for a while now, got a $45 million loan to finish construction. —GlobeSt
••• “Motivate, the company that operates the [Citi Bike] system of 12,000 bikes across New York City, released dozens of pedal-assist [i.e., motorized] bikes Monday. A Motivate spokeswoman said that 200 of the bikes will be sprinkled across docking stations in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn by the end of the week as part of a pilot program. […] The pedal-assist technology works by giving an electric boost when the bike senses that a rider is exerting a certain amount of pressure. The motor helps riders up to speeds of 18 miles an hour, according to Motivate. Riding the bike requires energy, but little effort. It makes riding up an incline as easy as riding on a flat surface.” That’ll be great when they ride on sidewalks to avoid the cobblestones. —Wall Street Journal
••• “There could soon be a new ferry between Jersey City and Manhattan, but you likely will not be allowed to use it unless you work for Citigroup. […] The financial firm’s ferry service would connect its campus on Washington Boulevard near the Jersey City waterfront with its new global headquarters near Hudson River Park on Greenwich Street in Tribeca. […] A Request for Proposals that was issued in January by the Hudson River Park Trust received a letter from Citigroup describing its interest in utilizing an upcoming water taxi landing at Pier 25 in Manhattan.” And now we know why Citigroup ponied up $10 million toward Pier 26. —Jersey Digs
••• An Eater round-up on diners includes the Square Diner.
••• The New York Times reviewed Nobu Downtown, demoting it to one star (from three in 1995), but with a certain fondness.
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Right, unless it’s corporate-sponsored e-bike, it’s not illegal. Love how corporations and money are ruling NYC. The city will eat itself up soon.
According to NYC.gov, “The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles does not register electric bicycles, therefore their operation is prohibited in New York City.”
Pedal assist bikes comply with the law in being partly person-powered and not being fully powered and having a cut-off for the power assist at 20 mph, a mere 5 mph below most city street speed limits.
Again, right. When I said e-bikes, that also included pedal-assisted or motorized bikes. Cops ticket personally owned pedal assist bikes, registered or otherwise. But will they ticket these corporate sponsored motorized bikes once they are on the streets. I think not. But hey, anything for the almighty corporations and money. Welcome to Talor’s Swift’s New York! It’s been monetized and privileged for you!
https://www.bicycling.com/news/a20030315/nypd-initiates-e-bike-crackdown-and-cyclists-are-outraged/
That linked article is from March 2017!
If you think an out-of-date article from a year-and-a-half ago makes your point, given all the legal changes, it certainly does not. All it does is misrepresent the truth. I am not a huge fan of de Blasio, but let’s at least represent the story right here.
Here is a NYC Department of Transportation press release from June 2018.
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #18-038
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Contact: Scott Gastel (212) 839-4850
Bike News Alert: DOT Announces Adoption of Final Rule Governing Pedal-Assist Bicycles
City Record published new rule today that clarifies legality of pedal-assist bicycles; Rule takes effect on Saturday, July 28, making clear that throttle-controlled e-bikes continue to remain illegal
The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that pursuant to the provisions of the City Administrative Procedure Act (CAPA), its new rule clarifying the legality of pedal-assist bicycles had been adopted – and published today in the City Record (Download rule here). The new rule establishes that pedal-assist bicycles are permissible, while throttle-controlled e-bikes continue to be illegal to operate on City streets under State and city law. Under CAPA, the new rule will officially take effect after a 30-day window — on Saturday, July 28.
“Mayor de Blasio announced in April that New York City was taking the important step of making pedal-assist bicycles clearly legal,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “We appreciate the feedback we received from New Yorkers through the rule-making process these last few months – including from those looking to find solutions for delivery workers who often ride throttle e-bikes. For now, we believe that this new rule will help us join other world cities opening the door to an increasingly popular, safe and low-emission mode of travel that helps cyclists climb hills and travel longer distances. In fact, pedal-assist bikes will help us to meet challenges on the horizon like the L train tunnel closure — as we announced only yesterday that Citi Bike will introduce a pedal-assist “Shuttle Service” over the Williamsburg Bridge next year to move even more New Yorkers on two wheels.”
As part of its rule-making process, DOT heard from many stakeholders about establishing a legal framework for the conversion of throttle-controlled e-bikes to legal pedal-assist bicycles. In that vein, DOT is immediately starting a second round of outreach to delivery workers, businesses and manufacturers, among others, to establish such a framework. As that dialogue continues, the new rules may be amended as necessary.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2018/pr18-038.shtml
Right, part 3.
One month prior to rolling out the corporate motorized bikes, the DOT legalized motorized bikes and the mayor and NYPD do a 180 on their stance on motorized bikes.
JUMP motorized dockless bikes are aimed mainly for tourists, newbie transplants (long-time tourists) and the wealthy and privileged (the tech and finance bros). But hey, enjoy. It’s the new and your New York now.
New York City cannot legalize what New York State makes illegal. Motorized, non-pedal-assist bikes are illegal in New York State. Blame Cuomo.
NYC did what it could on e-bikes, and now you are faulting them for that? How does that work?
Who knows whether the corporate bikes were the impetus or not? They held them off (to protect Citi Bike’s investment in docks) as long as possible.
As far as NYC and corporations, de Blasio and the City Council have recently dealt blows to AirBnB and Uber (even if only to benefit hotels and medallion owners, respectively.)
Nobu has gone downhill over the years. Was once really good but around 5 or 6 years ago it started to decline as it became too big.